Digital Marketing

Document Development Life Cycle: DDLC

So far you have become familiar with the SDLC-Software Development Life Cycle, the cyclical process in Software Engineering that establishes an order for the workflow, but today another child was born on the block-DDLC. DDLC stands for Document Development Life Cycle, surprise! I’m sure you must have thought of Database instead of Document, but the Document is absolutely here.

Today words have become everything and until something is emphatically communicated, no one has time to listen to what you have developed. So companies have finally risen to improve the most overlooked part of the software development life cycle, documentation as an important, indeed very important aspect. This has given way for technical writers to not just a breather but a respected job at work. Before, most Tech-Writers used to work on a contract or freelance basis. But now, the scene has changed and writers are not only paid high, but given due prominence as well. So, in this article, let’s see what are the phases that a technical writer goes through to create a document.

o Requirements analysis

o Design

o Developing

o Test

o Publication

o Keep

Analisys of requirements -This is the initial stage where the technical writer gathers all the necessary material and then analyzes the actual requirement. The available matter must be correctly mapped to the requirement so that, from the beginning, the flow moves in the right direction and every hour that passes can be counted towards the completion of the task.

The writer meets with subject matter experts (SMBs) and application coders several times to understand the scope of the software and key features. Most writers believe that one meeting should be enough, but I think that every time you meet the experts, more functions of the application are deployed. Simply because initially only user-level features are reported, then slowly in later meetings the developer reveals how each component works. Deep knowledge of the environment, end users, and related functionality helps the writer understand the project well. And a well-understood project can best be documented.

Here it is not enough to interview the experts, the writer must use the software to get the details of the functionality. All analysis must be recorded in legible format. This will come in handy later on and while it is documented, no more rounds of SMBs or developers would be needed.

Design – This phase is very important as it creates the skeleton of the document. From cover page to abstract, table of contents (TOC), actual text, glossary, and index, a layout is created here. For example, if you are using Microsoft Word 2007, you only need to place the TOC and Index skeletons. Later, as you continue typing, these tables are updated whenever you click the update option.

In the design phase, you have the entire structure ready and only the content is missing. Once you’re ready with your layout, a rough view of the document shape will begin to emerge.

Developing – This phase is the actual writing phase. If you were writing a draft document, you would have started from this phase and ended only here. The actual text is written here and if the TOC and index are kept, the titles, bookmarks and references are established along with the writing. Writing also means placing tables, pictures, titles, notes, detailed elaboration, etc.

The development phase, while enjoying central place, still shines when associated and mapped with the rest of the phases exactly as planned.

Tests – As the title indicates, this phase occurs after the document has been written and all the tables have been updated, including the TOC and the index. Clicking on a particular header in the TOC should bring you control to the connected page. Additional links and hyperlinks must be well connected and verified. Apart from these tests, grammar control, punctuation control and the regular flow of sentences, and sensitive sentences, are natural test items.

Remember, if a link is not working properly, you can be forgiven, but as a technical writer, any grammatical error or fault in the flow of the sentence cannot be taken lightly in any way.

The software document usually follows a style guide that indicates how a title should be written or how paragraphs should be framed. Therefore, the use of the style guide should be followed by memory.

Once tested for the aforementioned regulations, a document is sent to SMBs and software coders who then read the document between the lines to confirm that what is written is exactly what happens. Any reported problem is communicated to the writer who then ensures the truthfulness of the words.

Publication – Once all the text is well framed, managed and reviewed, it is ready for publication. If the document is to be published outside of the company, it is suggested to make a hard copy of the document and see how it will look after printing. As once the printing is done at a high level, any changes will cost too much and will also affect your reputation as a technical writer because the writer is not only responsible for creating documents but also for the proper formatting. The writer must ensure that the document is readable and fits the eyes of the reader. The selection of fonts, the choice of size and the use of brightness in images are some points that can turn a strange looking document into a masterpiece.

Maintenance – As usual, this is the longest and perhaps endless phase. Includes adding, deleting, and updating the document. If more features are added to the software, they should be added prominently so that existing readers can pay attention directly to the newly added stuff.

In case the authoring tool has been updated, the writer has to learn new functions and incorporate them into the existing document, etc.

The aforementioned phases have always been followed but unconsciously. Now we have an idea, why not stick to the phases and make sure the result is absolutely wonderful and professional.

Prashant Shrivastava

prashant @ friendstime

http://www.friendstime.com

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